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I've been saving up for a while and just had a couple of last minute questions concerning upgrading my 4eat on my 2005 WRX. I'm doing this in preparation for a turbo upgrade (either an td05 18 or 20g).

First of all, I'm definitely going to get my cooler and valvebody modded by IPT. The question I have concerns the torque converter modification.

Since I know I'll be getting my VB modded by IPT, I'm pretty sure I'm going to have them also do the TC but is this the right route? I've heard nothing but the best about IPT so I'm definitely leaning towards them because it would just be easier to have everything I need done by one place. I've noticed that many people end up going with Protorque on the TC though rather than IPT. Are there any reasons for this? I haven't heard anything bad about IPT's TC's so I was wondering why so many people bother to not go with them for their TC's along with their VB mods, rather than getting them done individually by different places.

My second question has to do with labor. I know removing the valve body is much easier than removing the torque converter and considering I will be having my TC modded for the higher torque and hp i'll be getting after my turbo upgrade, I was told by the guys at IPT that it might be a bit sluggish until i get my new turbo, after which it will be amazing. I'm having a local shop that I trust remove the vb and tranny to send to IPT and was wondering - would it really save me much money to have them done at the same time or could I get away with just doing the VB first, along with maybe the cooler, and then have the TC modded after getting my turbo.

I know I want my tune to be done after the TC is modded, but I kind of want to just do the VB for now, as long as I won't have to pay a lot more for labor for having them done on different visits. To remove the VB, you don't have to drop the tranny unlike the TC, correct? Therefore, wouldn't the labor for the VB be a fraction of the cost of the TC and not really cost that much to have done alone? How many hours of work would be required to remove the VB and then later put it back on? I was told the cooler would take about an hour and was quoted a price for dropping the entire tranny, but just doing the VB should be a much different story, right?

Sorry for the very verbose post - I'm dropping my car off later this week and suddenly started thinking about these things.

We just pulled a VB for a customer, and shipped it off to IPT on monday. Since you're going to be in basically the same boat with a car sitting there for a while just do the TC at the same time. If you coordinate it right you can get it all off and then back to you within a couple of days, and you'll be all set for the reinstall.

Oh, and yes, the VB is very different uninstall from the TC. VB, drop the pan, pull the VB. TC, drop the trans.

Modifying the valve body makes the 4eat shift much more quick and firm, greatly lowering the chance of grinding between gears with increased power. I have been advised that beyond 280whp is when it really becomes more or less necessary, but before that you should be fine w/o it, though if anyone knows better than me, certainly speak up.

Modifying the TC makes the shifts a little sloppier, correct? If that's true, I would think that it might be benefitial, though most likely unnecessary, to modify the VB after a TC modification simply to make the shifts feel better.